Government Used False CIA Affidavits
Against Charles Hayes, Defense Says

by J. Orlin Grabbe

As I have previously reported, the
U.S. Attorney's office for the Eastern
District of Kentucky--which had charged
Charles Hayes in a murder-for-hire
scheme--displayed as its chief witness
a convicted felon and former mental
patient named Lawrence Myers (a.k.a.
Meyers), who is also a one-time writer
for Media Bypass magazine.

Myers--an author of books on bomb-
making, and one of the few journalists
the government allowed to interview
accused Oklahoma City bomber Timothy
McVeigh--tried to extort $5,000 from a
former roommate who was homosexual,
according to California police reports
from 1985. These reports also say he
called up police, admitted to the
extortion, and said he would kill the
person anyway, even if the individual
paid the $5,000, because--Myers claimed
to police--the man deserved to die.
Myers told police he needed the money
to finance his campaign against
homosexuals and drug dealers in the
area.

The U.S. Attorney's office also
offered as witness against Hayes an FBI
Agent named David Keller, who claimed
that J. Orlin Grabbe and Charles Hayes
were probably the same person. This
false identification was used by U.S.
Magistrate Judge J. B. Johnson Jr. as a
basis for denying bail to Hayes. FBI
Agent Keller is said by defense
investigators to be a former member of
a gang called "The Outlaws," among
whom, gang members say, he used and
sold heroin while informing on them for
the FBI.

During the trial Hayes cited his
CIA background and testified to his
recent activities in conjunction with a
group of computer hackers called the
Fifth Column in probing government
corruption, including corruption of the
FBI and the Department of Justice.

But the Prosecution claimed Hayes
was "living in a fantasy world" and had
no credibility, by contrast to
government witnesses Lawrence Myers and
David Keller. To prove this, the
Prosecution introduced two letters from
the CIA which seemed to indicate Hayes
had never worked for them.

Now the Hayes' defense charges
these affidavits were false. Moreover,
the defense charges, government witness
Lawrence Myers had been previously
rejected as an FBI informant, noting
that "This rejection is significant,
considering that the FBI regularly
accepts drug dealers, con men and worse
as informants."

The following report from the
Associated Press is dated February 22,
1997.

Hayes seeks new murder-for-
hire trial

Says government used fake CIA
affidavits

LONDON, Ky.--A man
convicted of trying to have
his son killed says he should
get a new trial because the
government used fake CIA
affidavits against him.

Chuck Hayes of Pulaski
County filed his motion for a
new trial yesterday in U.S.
District Court. He also said
he should get a new trial
because prosecutors withheld
evidence that would have
discredited Lawrence Myers,
one of their key witnesses.

Hayes claims he is a
former CIA operative who
enjoyed playing mind games
with the FBI. He tried to
use that defense against a
charge he hired a hit man to
kill his son, with whom he
was engaged in an inheritance
battle.

But federal prosecutors
introduced affidavits at
trial in which the CIA denied
any association with Hayes.
The motion for a new trial
said the affidavits were
false, were never
authenticated and should not
have been admitted into
evidence.

"On the second day of
trial, one of the
government's own witnesses
talked about Mr. Hayes'
connection with the CIA, a
fact crucial to his defense,"
the motion said.

"The affidavits are
wrong, and the defense was
denied the opportunity to
prove they were false and did
not meet the authentication
and hearsay admission
requirements of the Federal
Rules of Evidence." Hayes
also claims the FBI didn't
use his fingerprints or
undercover name to find out
if he really worked for the
CIA.

As for Myers, a reporter
for an alternative magazine,
from Evansville, Ind., Hayes
said the jury should have
been allowed to hear about
how Myers was discharged from
the military for a mental
condition and how the FBI
refused to take him on as a
paid informant.

"Whatever they had, they
would not accept him and
their decision that he was
not reliable is additional
exculpatory evidence not
provided fully or in time for
use in preparing the defense
case for trial," the motion
said. "This rejection is
significant, considering that
the FBI regularly accepts
drug dealers, con men and
worse as informants."